Zak Brown shares why he’s been so impressed with Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli and makes ‘rookie’ Oscar Piastri comparison

Mercedes appeared to take a massive risk when they decided to promote from within when Lewis Hamilton announced his departure from the team.

In place of a seven-time world champion, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff chose to replace Lewis Hamilton with teenager Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

The Italian had an accelerated junior career, spending just one year in Formula 2 after skipping Formula 3 entirely.

Antoneli was warned of the risk of his brisk promotion into Formula 1, after proving that he occasionally pushes the limits too frequently.

His crash on his second lap at Monza during his FP1 debut last year was a prime example of this, although Juan Pablo Montoya believes Antonelli crashed on several occasions during private testing.

If that’s the case, then it has helped the Italian iron out any immediate issues ahead of his rookie Formula 1 season.

He currently sits above Hamilton in the drivers’ championship and has caught the eye of McLaren boss Zak Brown in the process.

READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats

Zak Brown makes Oscar Piastri to Andrea Kimi Antonelli during F1 rookie season

Brown was taking part in an interview with The Race after the first five race weekends of the 2025 F1 season.

One comment that was put to Brown was Max Verstappen explaining how dominant he would be in the current McLaren given Red Bull’s struggles.

Brown responded to this and said: “I think the opposite can be said. I think if you put Oscar or Lando in the last couple of years, they’d have some world championships to their name.

“Clearly, the Red Bull car is fantastic, obviously Max is an unbelievable driver. I think Oscar and Lando are both very capable of winning the championship this year, as is Max.

“I think no one should rule out George Russell and Charles Leclerc. Lewis [Hamilton], I think it’s just a matter of time until he finds his sweet spot there, so I wouldn’t rule out Lewis.

“Kimi, in the future, obviously, he’s a rookie this year, is doing a very good job.

“He’s not making rookie mistakes, but you know, being a rookie I think it’ll take him a year or two to find his feet, like it has with Oscar.

“But I think all those drivers we mentioned there are spectacular, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses, but I think they’re all world championship calibre.”

READ MORE: McLaren hoping to beat Audi to the signing of ‘mega’ youngster who starred at the Bahrain Grand Prix

Kimi Antronelli taking a different approach to Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes

For the past 12 years, Mercedes have concentrated their development around Hamilton’s wants and wishes.

In his final few seasons with the team, Hamilton really struggled to match the unbelievable performances he was putting in that made him a seven-time world champion.

With Hamilton gone, Mercedes had to decide whether to try and build the quickest car possible or if they should now back George Russell in a similar way.

For the first time in years, Mercedes appear to have taken a significant step forward, although it’s not known whether that has anything to do with Hamilton’s departure.

Wolff has explained what makes Antonelli so different to Hamilton, and while it’s far too soon to say whether he’s going to be a world championship contender in the future, the signs are promising.

Brown’s comments suggest that the rest of the paddock is taking notice too, and it’s unlikely to be long until the 18-year-old is standing on the podium for the first time, or even hearing the Italian national anthem.